Having qualified for the final in third and fifth place respectively, Max Milne and Dayan Akhtar both made the podium of a tightly contested men's bouldering final at the European Championships in Villars, Switzerland.

Men's Boulder Final:

With tops of all four boulders across the competition, the final was extraordinarily close, with attempts to zones needed to create separation on the podium.

Max was the first to show his podium potential. He was the sixth athlete out, with none of the previous five managing to find the top of the elusive first boulder. Having flashed Bewilderness (f8B+) just a few weeks prior, M1 seemed to offer Max little resistance. He made it look easy, becoming just the second climber to flash the zone, before going on to make it to the top on that very same attempt.

With no other climber able to match Max's top, he went into the second boulder a step ahead of the rest of the field. 

M2 seemed slightly easier, Anze Peharc found the top on his fourth attempt. Dayan then came out, and demonstrated that pulling onto a boulder can often be a crux in and of itself. After three quickfire attempts, each of which saw him fail to establish, Dayan took a moment to rest and chalk up. On his fourth attempt he established the starting position confidently, before cruising through the rest of the crimpy old school boulder, and moving into provisional first place.

He wasn't able to hold onto the position for long, however, as Max came out and - yet again - made light work of the boulder. With zero hesitation on the start holds, he opted for a less dynamic and more secure beta than Dayan through the middle section, before latching the final hold with ease.

Sam Avezou was able to equal Max's performance on boulder two, looking similarly comfortable, but two boulders in Max seemed like the man to beat.

M3 - a balancy almost-no-hands slab - seemed easier again. Anze Peharc flashed the boulder, Dayan reached the last move multiple times but found himself just unable to keep his balance, and Manu Cornu then equalled Anze's flash, spending more than a minute and a half on the wall in the process. It seemed unlikely that the boulder would present much resistance to Max.

And yet, after six attempts, Max was yet to get through the second move. With a minute and a half left, he found the right beta, reached the zone, and found himself in the second half of the boulder. He looked smooth as he stepped through onto a volume, readying himself for the last hard move, only for his foot to slip. 

With a minute left on the clock he had enough time to work his way into the same position, and was able to make it a move further this time, only to find himself unable to find the balance point. With sixteen seconds left he pulled on again, and again with nine seconds left, but it wasn't to be, and with Sam Avezou able to join Anze and Manu with a flash of M3, the podium going into the fourth and final boulder had Sam on top, Max in second, and Anze in third. 

After two boulders that saw multiple tops, M4 looked desperate. Even when Edvards Gruzitis of Latvia, who had only managed to find zones up to that point, flashed the boulder, it seemed only to confirm that this boulder was the most strenuous of the four, a boulder that was unlikely to be climbed at all if it wasn't climbed first or second try.

Dayan Akhtar's top of the boulder, on his third attempt, was therefore a sight to behold. His top of the boulder was made even more impressive by the fact that he was clearly not 100% sure which beta he would use, trying multiple positions before committing to three of the final four moves, and eventually topping the boulder after almost a minute on the wall - no easy feat for an overhanging power boulder.

Dayan's two tops and two zones moved him into first place with four climbers to come, three of whom could overtake him.

Manu Cornu was next out, needing top to challenge for a podium place. He was able to find the zone on his third attempt, but couldn't find the top. 

Max was the next podium contender out. He came on to the mats with third place guaranteed, but struggled with the lower section of the boulder. Again, it took Max a while to secure the zone, eventually reaching it on his sixth attempt. He moved into provisional first with three strenuous moves to go, and thirty seconds left on the clock.

Unfortunately, Max's five unsuccessful attempts had drained him, and he was unable to move through the final section. He was guaranteed second, though, and first was still a possibility.

Sam Avezou was last out, and needed a zone in ten attempts or fewer to overtake both Dayan and Max, and move into first place. During his first two attempts, it looked like a zone might be out of reach. On his third attempt, however, Sam reach the zone, and whilst he was unable to reach the top of the boulder, he had confirmed his position at the top of the podium as European Champion.

Boulder Men

Women' Boulder Final:

In the Women's Boulder Final it was a similar affair, with the podium positions, yet again, all decided on attempts. 

Naïlé Meignan was the best of the bunch with her top of W4 - a dynamic compression boulder - in just four attempts sending her to the top of the podium, and winning her the European Championships.

Ayala Kerem, unable to stick the top of the final boulder, took the silver medal, whilst Naïlé's compatriot Agathe Calliet took the bronze. All three athlete finished with three tops and four zones, with just five 'Top' attempts separating third and first place.

Boulder Women

Men's Lead Final:

In the Men's Lead Final, eighteen year old Guillermo Peinado Franganillo was the surprise contender. With four climbers to follow him, he took the lead with a score of 39+. 

Falls from Luka Potocar and Jonas Utelli secured Franganillo a spot on the podium, before home favourite, and returning Olympian, Sascha Lehmann pulled onto the route. 

Having come up short in Paris, and performing in front of a home crowd, it was clear that this meant a lot to Sascha. He climbed with confidence, looking smooth until he completely missed a hold during a dynamic drop-down, just two moves short of a podium place. Somehow he managed to regain his composure and find a rest position. He forged onwards, into third, into second, and into first, falling on the final move, and being rewarded with an - almost - unbeatable score of 45+.

Sam Avezou was the last climber out. Only a top would do, and yet - with Sam in such incredible form - it seemed like a real possibility. However, it wasn't to be, and Sam fell two holds short of the mark. His score of 43+ added a silver medal to his gold in the boulder, and marked him out as a clear contender for the combined format.

Lead Men

Women's Lead Final:

The Women's Lead Final was all about Jenya Kazbekova, Hélène Janicot, and Laura Rogora. With Jenya and Hélène sharing top spot in the qualifiers, and Laura the only climber to top the semi-final route - with Hélène in second and Jenya in fifth, it seemed likely that one of these three would take the top spot in the final.

Jenya was the first of the three out. With a mark of 38+ to beat - set by Lynn van der Meer of the Netherlands - Jenya battled through to the headwall, managing to pull just ahead of Lynn, by a single hold, before she fell. 

Hélène was next of the three contenders out. Having not finished a round lower than second so far, it seemed almost inevitable that she would find her way to the podium. And yet, as she neared the headwall, you could see the pump set in. Gripping, sliding off, and re-gripping the holds as she struggled to stay on, Hélène fell on the 35th hold, moving her into fourth place, just a '+' away from the podium, with only Laura Rogora to climb. 

Laura looked nervous as she came out, perhaps because of the jumpy nature of the route, a style she has been known to struggle with. An easy jump started the route off - which Laura looked steady on - but another jump, around halfway up the route, lay waiting.

Laura's still seemed nervy as she wound up for the jump, but she was quickly through it, and instantly looked at ease, looking back at the clock and taking a long rest.

Once she was on the upper headwall, she looked in a separate class. Having qualified in first place, she knew that a Top would guarantee the European Championships Gold, and - after a slightly tense and run-out final clip - that's exactly what she managed to do.

Lead Women

Men's Boulder and Lead combined Final:

The combined final seemed an almost foregone conclusion. With Sam Avezou having won the Boulder, come second in the Lead, and qualified for the combined final streets ahead of his nearest competitor, Gold seemed almost guaranteed. 

The boulder round only confirmed his dominance, with Sam finishing with a score of 99.7, exactly forty points clear of Luka Potocar in second place.

With the rest of the climbers separated by around 20 points after the Boulder round, it would have to be the Lead round where the climbers found greater separation. Home climber Jonas Utelli lay down the gauntlet, with an impressive score of 84.1, giving him a total score of 133.3, and moving him into provisional first place. 

Fresh off his victory in the Lead, Sascha Lehmann overtook Utelli shortly after, his score of 92.1 narrowly moving him into first, with a score of 136.2, with only Sam to climb. 

Sam pulled onto the route needing to reach the 39 point hold to secure victory. After one or two nervy moments, Sam reached the required hold. He fell with a final lead score of 84.1, leaving him with a total score of 183.8, almost fifty points clear of Sascha in second place, with Sascha's compatriot Jonas Utelli taking third. 

Sam Avezou finished the European Championships with a Gold in Boulder, Silver in Lead, and Gold in combined. An incredible performance.

Boulder&lead Men

Women's Boulder and Lead combined Final:

The women's combined final seemed a little closer, with no one climber clearly ahead of the rest. No single climber had stood on both the individual Boulder and Lead podiums, although Jenya had made the Boulder final, and taken second in the Lead portion of the competition, so seemed like the favourite going into the competition.

Her first place finish in the qualifying round reinforced this status, and she went on to put a solid performance in during the Boulder, finishing in second place with a score of 84.8, behind Ayala Kerem's score of 99.5, and ahead of Zélia Avezou's score of 79.7.

Athletes were split at regular intervals beneath these three, with scores in the 60s, 50s, 40s, and 30s. Some athletes had a lot of ground to make up in the Lead round.

Coming into the Lead round in first place, Ayala Kerem needed less out of the Lead route than the rest of the field, but it was undeniably the weaker of her two disciplines. This lack of experience showed, with Kerem first missing a clip, and then falling low on the wall, with only 24 points. With an overall score of 123.5, she was in third position, but Laura Rogora and Jenya Kazbekova - first and second place finishers in Lead - were still to climb. 

After a bit of back-and-forth around the 60 point mark, Laura made it almost to the top, her Lead score of 96.1 bumping up an average Boulder round of 59.5, and taking her overall score to 155.6. As such, she moved into first place, just ahead of Zélia Avezou's score of 151.8, achieved through consistent climbing across both Boulder and Lead, with scores in the 70's in both disciplines. 

Only Jenya could beat Laura's score, and she would need to reach the 72 point hold to do it. She came painstakingly close. Fighting hard to stay on the wall, she fell just one hold short, finishing with a Lead score of 68 points, and a total score of 152.8.

Boulder&lead Women

Speed Final:

Speed Men

Speed Women